here the object remains precisely object of an unfulfilled
idea.” I answer: An error is an error about a specific
object, only in case the purpose imperfectly defined by the
vague idea at the instant when the error is made, is better
defined, is, in fact, better fulfilled, by an object whose
determinate character in some wise, although never
absolutely, opposes the fragmentary efforts first made to
define them. As for failure, or practical defeat of our
plans: The practical object that we have not yet won
remains for us a Beyond, or Other than our search,
precisely so long as we still seek it; and no merely external
buffetting of so-called hard facts ever proves to the resolute
will that its practical objects are unattainable, or have
no existence, until we see an inner reason why just these
objects are really excluded by a fuller understanding of
our own ideal purposes themselves. I do not will just
now to fly, because my purpose in conceiving nature is
now relatively fulfilled in a system of ideas which excludes
my possession of the power to fly. But were I an inventor
trying to perfect flying-machines, I should continue
the effort to find the determination of my will present in a
flying-machine, until I became convinced that my purpose
as defined stood somehow in conflict with itself, or with
the whole idea of nature of which it is a portion.
IX
And now as to what results from all this concerning the essential nature of the object of any idea, and as to that determinateness and individuality of Being which has so perplexed us.
